Reds show class to win Goodison derby at a canter

WHILE the exasperated, the indignant and the downright angry of Everton were queueing at Goodison's main entrance to ask Bill Kenwright to explain the hurt which had just been inflicted upon them, Gerrard Houllier was three floors up, unwittingly twisting the knife.

After a three year spending spree, during which he has invested in the region of #55m, he beamed around a packed press room and suggested he was still four years away from completing his Reds revival.

"I hope my board will be patient," he joked.

It was a joke which would have fallen flat on those front door dissenters.

Walter Smith is around #7m in credit on his transfer dealings. Consequently he is no further on than when he took over at Goodison Park.

If money cannot buy success, and Bryan Robson and John Gregory are good examples, then it can certainly help you to have a go.

A relic from England's past was Everton's only inspiration during Saturday's 165th derby - and predictably, he cost nothing.

But while Paul Gascoigne did all he could to cajole a second half response from his fast-fading side, England's modern stars overshadowed his efforts with ease.

While vision, poise are skill are assets to admire in the modern game, only three qualities really count.

Power, pace - and even more pace. Steven Gerrard, Emile Heskey and Michael Owen possess all three in abundance, and they were enough to wipe away even the irritation of conceding an early goal to stroll to victory.

It was the one-sided manner of the success that Evertonians found hardest to bear.

The humiliations and disasters of the past decade have been soothed by a far better record against their neighbours than their league record deserved.

But after last season's at times fortuitous double over the Blues, Liverpool won Saturday's High Noon shootout at a canter.

Everton managed to get enough of their injured stars out on the pitch to create a solid enough looking unit, on paper at least.

Unfortunately for them football is played on grass.

The midfield trio of Gravesen, Alexandersson and Xavier was hopelessly outclassed. And Liverpool still had class like Gary McAllister, Nick Barmby, Vladimir Smicer and Jari Litmanen waiting in reserve.

Litmanen's name was mentioned to Walter Smith by an agent, before he was offered to Anfield.

So too, was goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek's.

But while Everton can't currently afford the wages of a Middlesbrough skipper who quit Anfield years ago, talk of stealing current international stars from under their neighbours' noses must remain a frustrating pipe dream.

The prospects for Everton are grim.

Their squad is short on quality and even even shorter on quantity.

We asked Bill Kenwright on Thursday if the Blues were really as broke as the evidence appears to point.

The deafening sound of silence in response suggests they are.

Some prefer to point the finger of blame in Walter Smith's direction, and it is true that managers like George Burley and Alan Curbishley have fashioned capable sides on a shoestring.

But both were allowed to build gradually after suffering relegation to the First Division, and both are now enduring the reality of a second season in the big league with star players suddenly demanding star wages.

Smith has been forced to build three teams, one after the other, as excellent players were attracted to Goodison - then either decided the grass was greener elsewhere or had to be sold to appease an anxious bank manager.

The appalling reality is that Olivier Dacourt, Marco Materazzi or John Collins wouldn't look twice at Everton now.

As always, a fight to remain in the Premiership remains Everton's only achievable target.

Their neighbours can afford to be altogether more ambitious - and if Manchester United are still the team to beat, then Liverpool's championship credentials may not be as laughable as their neighbours would like to think.

At present both clubs possess striking similarities. Liverpool and United attack with verve, pace and power. Neither look capable of defending their dinner.

Everton were beaten comfortably, yet still created three excellent second half opportunities - all falling to the head and feet of Kevin Campbell.

Stephane Henchoz managed to resist the temptation to palm a close ranger header over the bar and used his head to thwart Campbell's 55th minute effort. Ironically goalkeeper Dudek used his body then his feet to block another double-Campbell effort two minutes from time.

In between he sprang superbly to make a more traditional goalkeeper's stop from Campbell.

Tony Hibbert also headed an excellent opening inches wide of his right hand post, but if this all creates an illusion of an Everton cavalry charge, don't be misled.

Liverpool were always in control once John Arne Riise had slalomed around Steve Watson before drilling a shot through Paul Gerrard's body.

That made the score 3-1 just six minutes after half-time, while Liverpool's acquisition of a reliable shot-stopper at the other end simply rubbed salt into festering Blue wounds.

Campbell had spun superbly onto Duncan Ferguson's head down to give Everton an unlikely lead.

My Blue pal, marooned in Las Vegas and missing his first derby for 25 years, provided a suitably fatalistic reaction.

Asked for text-message news of the match, his reply was simply 'Oh dear!' - or words to that affect.

The reaction was justified. Liverpool's extra quality in all areas meant that Gerrard's stunning 12th minute equaliser was almost unpreventable once Unsworth and Naysmith had failed to head solidly clear.

Gerrard's celebration might have earned him a yellow card had Jeff Winter been officiating, but Paul Durkin proved an outstanding derby day official.

The only decision he got wrong all afternoon hardly saw Evertonians complaining, when Heskey was denied another penalty an hour after Unsworth had crudely barged him to the ground for a first.

Michael Owen converted that one, to worryingly break a derby duck, and Everton were effectively out of it.

Duncan Ferguson endured his most lacklustre derby for years, while even the bold tactic of going 4-3-3 with a first sighting of Tomasz Radzinski in Royal Blue was spiked by Riise's early second half strike.

The good news was that Everton don't now have to go to Leeds on Wednesday.